2015 Capital Markets Outlook

Investor sentiment is a bit cautious going into 2015, despite profitability being quite strong in many sectors. But concerns – some new, some old – are keeping industry executives on their toes. Whether it is the evolving threat of cybercrime, rising cost of regulatory compliance, or pressure coming from nontraditional competitors, financial services leaders have challenges aplenty. Agility, innovation, and collaboration will be important to capitalise on new opportunities for growth in 2015.

Producing industry outlook reports has the result of exposing the authors to second-guessing; hindsight is 20/20. Nevertheless, we believe it is important to reflect on what we said a year ago, and put our prior prognostications to the test by analysing what we got right – and perhaps not exactly right – in our 2014 outlook. You will find this "Looking back" analysis leading off this year's edition, followed by a "Looking forward" summary of our views on the coming year.

The bulk of the report will then explore a number of key issues of importance for the industry over the coming year, each including a specific look at the "Focus for 2015" and a "Bottom line" that provides some actionable takeaways for industry leaders to consider.